Let's hope Venezuelans choose for their next leader an individual who has the same respect for human rights and free markets that Americans have. You know, somebody like Augusto Pinochet, or Hosni Mubarak.

When capitalism fails I am going to switch sides, get on the ground floor of the revolution so I can rise up high in the Commie Party so I can be wealthy like Chavez. Us capitalist will do whatever it takes to be successful.

Joe Blowme:FarkedOver: Joe Blowme: Mija: onyxruby: Corrupt hypocritical evil dictator is dead! Too bad I missed my dead pool pick by about two days. Now that the jackass of South America is dead perhaps peace will stand a chance down their again. We'll see if his successor is as good at kicking the hornets nest on queue as he is.

Chavez was elected. He was not a dictator. You either don't know what dictator means or you are repeating right wing ignorance. Either way you are pathetic.

FLMountainMan:Get over yourself. Your Robin Hood schtick is straight out of some community college sociology professor's curriculum. You sound really sad and miserable.

I judge Chavez from a Marxist point of view. Was he a great Marxist? No, he wasn't. Was he the best hope for the disenfranchised and the poor of Venezuela? Yes he was. I believe the nationalization of the oil companies helped the poor in more ways than a market driven company could have. Even the people of the US could say this is true, well at least the 250,000 low income people of New England that got free home heating oil from the Venezuelan government.

He was not the "dictator" or the "boogeyman" that everyone makes him out to be. Hell after there was a US supported "coup" of Chavez the people went on strike and DEMANDED he be put back in power. This doesn't sound like something an oppressed people would do.

FullMetalPanda:I'm sure he was going to will it to the people but died before he could update his will.

One thing, you look at him and Kim from Best Korea... they fat. You look at Putin and he's in shape and skinny. The skinny guy is the one you need to be afraid of in my opinion in regards to dictators for life...

Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look - he thinks too much, and such men are dangerous.

JohnAnnArbor:epoc_tnac: So, does anyone in here know *why* they hate Hugo Chavez? I'd be genuinely curious to see a list of reasons that in the other thread he was being listed alongside Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden. Seems like a bunch of hyped-up bullshiat to me, but I'm just some ignorant guy waiting to be informed.

Well, for one, he had his legislature repeatedly pass "enabling laws" that allowed him to rule by decree. Chavez signed a paper--new law. No vote.

Imagine if the Congress did that for a US president. (Thankfully, I have a little faith left in the system and believe that most Congresscritters, even of the same party, would vote against such a measure.)

Okay, well that's a start. Let's go all out and say he changed the law to make himself a dictator. And then, what evil deeds did he get up to with his new powers? If you want to be part of the modern-day axis of evil, it's not enough to just change the law to give you the *ability* to be evil. You have to actually do something evil.

So, does anyone in here know *why* they hate Hugo Chavez? I'd be genuinely curious to see a list of reasons that in the other thread he was being listed alongside Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden. Seems like a bunch of hyped-up bullshiat to me, but I'm just some ignorant guy waiting to be informed.

A billionaire president of an oil-rich country still has to fly to a different country for medical care. To be fair, he certainly put a lot of money into importing Cuban doctors and medical practices to Venezuela, and Cuba has pretty good healthcare in the first place, but still. Money not well-spent, clearly.

He seemed to be a man in which his ego and his "heart" competed on the playing field that was his country as a whole. He wanted to do a lot for the little guy, but also did much for himself. In the end, he died relatively young and his big plans are half-fulfilled.

FullMetalPanda:I'm sure he was going to will it to the people but died before he could update his will.

One thing, you look at him and Kim from Best Korea... they fat. You look at Putin and he's in shape and skinny. The skinny guy is the one you need to be afraid of in my opinion in regards to dictators for life...